Warbird Information Exchange

Today I had the good fortune to visit with fellow WIXers , Rich Palmer and Jim Beasley in Coatesville, Pa.

They were kind enough to let me stumble around and kick important Stang parts all over their shop.....

The nickle tour was worth the admission!! Very nice sanitary hangar and shop with some real special goodies awaiting attention....

Thanks guys!

Yesterday I got to to get in everyones way at Rouch Engineering in Detroit area....a lot of neat stuff for gearheads!

Gary did a fantastic job in getting the stuff rounded up and back to us.
Thanks,
Rich

Very cool. I'm jealous.

I had the pleasure of a visit there last month- and was too awed to even take pics! I really enjoyed the visit, and left my resume, with hopes... I even think I was near incoherent with the sensory overload...

Rich- Thanks again for the honor!
Robbie

Gary you're the best for all the wonderful help and time you shared with us. It was great to finally meet you. Thank you again. Here are a few shots:

Enchantress' wings finally come home:


Shipley move your tushy so we can unload the truck:


finally Bald Eagle's engine is home:


artwork from Big Jim at Roush for Princess:

Jim do you own any dirt-bikes?

Is the Enchantress a title for Frenesi's restoration?

T

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"There are two types of people here; airshow whores and airshow prostitutes. The whores, like you and I, do airshow stuff for free, whereas the prostitutes are paid" - Reg Urschler

Jim,

Glad to see you have the engines and wings home!!

Look forward to seeing you at WWII Weekend in Reading.

Greg

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Greg Witmer, V.P. of Operations
Airboss / Ground Boss / WWII Aircraft Coordinator
David Schultz Airshows LLC

Rolls Royce Merlin arrrgghhhhh(ala Homer Simpson)...drool...

Question on the 2nd engine, the one with the black cam covers. The plugs look different, and it looks like unshielded ignition wires with no harness and the wires bound or taped together. Is that a proven way to do it? Is is as good once under the cowling with engine heat and possible hot oil or coolant contacting them?

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Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK

Looks to me like they're using a racing-style high performance, low resistance plug wire similar to what you'd see in racing boats or tractors that use similar Allison or Rolls-Royce engines. As for no harness, the wires appear to be zip-tied or otherwise pulled into the polished tubing and then routed into a wire wrap before moving to the distributor, so while maybe not done in a "standard" form, it appears that they are properly secured from unnecessary movement.

Helps with the "racer" look too.

Could those be a set of the new, redesigned heads J.R. has been rumored to have in the works?

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Don't make me go get my flying monkeys-

Bill -- this is a PMA approved setup from Roush analogous in many ways to the other changes to the wiring harness used for racing, etc. They are well secured and it's a very clean and impressive looking deal that they've created. Also it's a million times easier to change plugs -- and you don't need to use plugs that cost $50 per piece ....

WOW, that second Merlin is GORGEOUS!

I got the Spinner and smile painted yellow today for Bald Eagle.
The spinner had been repaired by Bill Yoak. Bill flew it up to us a few days ago in his Bonanza.
I hope to get the Sparrow (silver/gray) motor in place on BE this weekend.
Looking for runs later next week.
While you might be able to get Lodge plugs for $50, the Champions are right around $100 ea. Thats x 24 for a full set. The Roush setup uses plugs that are about $6 ea or so. Do the math for the savings. The savings will get you a flight or 2 with avgas approaching $7/gal.
Jim called me from Chino today. He is flying the Museum's P-51 Spam Can and Ed Shipley is using Hinton's Wee Willy for the Horseman routine this weekend. Enjoy the display if you are there.
Rich

It was productive afternoon.
The newly painted smile is installed.

The spinner is unmasked.

The engine hung in Bald Eagle.


Now the real work begins. Remembering where every thing goes.
Rich